Get Involved

Get Involved with Day of the Dogs

We’re on a mission to increase the live release rate of shelter animals through rescue and adoption support for animals at the Harris County Animal Shelter. In addition to pre-funding costs of care, there are even more ways you can help our program succeed.

Become a Volunteer

There are many ways to become part of our Day of the Dogs team. Please see our volunteer opportunities below and email us for more information.

Looking to volunteer with the Harris County Animal Shelter? The shelter offers numerous volunteer opportunities with multiple orientations each month. You can also email HCAS for more information.

Volunteer Opportunities with Day of the Dogs

Digital Marketing Volunteer

Local or Remote, Daily

Help keep track of the outcomes of all animals we profile! As a Digital Marketing Volunteer, you’ll help track the most current updates from HCAS and keep our spreadsheet updated throughout the day. You’ll also work with our Digital Marketing Assistants to manage our back-end tracking process. Experience with Excel is a plus!

Facebook Page Moderator

Local or Remote, Daily

Help maintain our Harris County Animal Shelter Pets in Need Facebook page. Respond to posts on the page, update the status of animals when information is received from shelter staff, add PetHarbor links above videos and share donation totals in the threads.

Dog Foster

Local to Houston, As Needed

Open your home for two to four weeks to foster a dog before it leaves on our transport vehicle to an out-of-state rescue or adopter. (The destination is determined prior to taking the animal into your home.) Day of the Dogs will provide you with food and any necessary supplies for the duration of an animal’s stay.

Instagram/Twitter Account Manager

Transport Driver

Assist with transporting dogs to and from the Harris County Animal Shelter, foster homes, veterinary offices and boarding locations or to meet transporters.

Paint the Town Volunteer

Local to Houston, One Day/Month

Raise awareness by hanging HCAS flyers and distributing business cards to Houston businesses, schools, convenience stores, libraries and other public locations to spread the word about the shelter's existence.

Animal Showcase Events Manager

Local to Houston, Monthly

As an Events Manager, you’ll organize and manage the logistics and volunteers for Day of the Dogs events, including Animal Showcase events for local rescues who consistently pull from Harris County.

You’ll work with existing community events coordinators to manage logistics, equipment. etc., source new venue options for adoption events and oversee volunteer recruitment for event staffing as needed. Good candidates have had experience in event planning and are highly organized, detail-oriented, and out-of-the-box thinkers! Volunteers must be willing to coordinate a minimum of one event per month.

Animal Showcase Events Volunteer

Local to Houston – All Ages Welcome!, Monthly

We plan multiple events throughout the year to support local rescue groups who routinely pull from Harris County Animal Shelter. As a Events Volunteer, you’ll help with our Adoption Showcase events. The majority of our events are on Saturdays or Sundays, and volunteers of all ages are welcome!

Hang banners and signage, greet potential adopters, walk dogs, introduce dogs to potential adopters, answer questions about adoption, support local rescue groups as needed, and help with a variety of other tasks needed to run a successful event!

P.E.T. Fundraising Event Manager

Houston, NW Indiana, Kansas City, Ongoing

As a P.E.T. (Preventing Euthanasia Through) Fundraising Event Manager, you’ll source event venues and business that will help with fundraising for Day of the Dogs’ life-saving programming. We’re seeking Fundraising Event Managers in Houston, Kansas City, NW Indiana and other cities where rescues pull animals from the Harris County Animal Shelter.

P.E.T. Fundraising Event Volunteer

Houston, NW Indiana, Kansas City, Ongoing

As a P.E.T. Fundraising Event Volunteer, you’ll help with fundraising events for our life-saving programs. We’re seeking Fundraising Event Volunteers in Houston, Kansas City and other cities where rescues pull animals from the Harris County Animal Shelter.

Please email us for more information about volunteering.

Transport to Safety

Our transport program exists to move homeless dogs from the Harris County Animal Shelter to Houston-area rescue groups and no-kill shelters. We also transport animals out of state to our rescue and shelter partners in Illinois,Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, including PAWS Tinley Park, Humane Society of Hobart, Lakeshore PAWS, Humane Indiana, South Suburban Humane Society, the Humane Society of Indianapolis, the Kansas City Pet Project, Jasper County Animal Rescue League and Prairie Paws Animal Shelter.

Van Transport

We coordinate transports with a variety of transport partners using Ford Transit vans or similar vehicles. Donations of $100 for each “lifesaving seat on the van” help cover our transport costs. We’ve also had generous donors cover the entire cost of transport – $3000 – saving up to 35 lives at once! Help us by donating toward a dog’s “ticket to ride.”

Ford Transit Fund

We’re currently fundraising for a Ford Transit vehicle of our own to help save even more animals. You can support our efforts by donating to our Ford fund; one hundred percent of your donation will be allotted to our vehicle budget.

Volunteer Drivers

If you’d like to help drive animals to a new life of freedom, please email us! ‍These are the legs we need help with on a bi-weekly basis:

Houston, TX to Abilene, TX

Houston, TX to NW Indiana

Abilene, TX to NW Indiana

Transport Volunteers:We need Houston local individuals willing to help with set up of transport vehicles, local transport from the shelter to foster/boarding/vet care, transport detail organization and maintenance, day of transport support (ensuring all animals are on transport with paperwork, taking videos and photos of each animal).

Talk, Post and Share

Many members of the Houston community are unaware of the capacity crisis facing the Harris County Animal Shelter – or that the shelter even exists! Help us educate the Houston community! Talk to your friends and family about the shelter, share posts from our Facebook page and encourage others to follow us and donate! Follow Us on Facebook!

Foster

Fostering provides temporary housing to animals until they find their forever home, with a typical time commitment of two to four weeks. Houston-area rescues and shelters as well as out of state rescues and shelters are always in need of foster homes for the animals they help, while fosters can also provide short-term care for animals that will be traveling to out-of-state rescue groups or adopters.

If you’re in the Houston area and interested in fostering, please contact us!

Adopt at an Event

Adoption is one of the key solutions to saving lives. Through our Animal Showcase events, we help local rescue groups that routinely pull from HCAS connect animals in their programs with potential adopters. We organize and staff multiple events throughout the year, and we’re always seeking new ideas to help animals find theirforever home. ‍If you have an idea for an adoption event, or if you’d like to host an event at your business, please email us!

Adopt at HCAS

At HCAS, adoption fees are affordable and adoptions can be made in person at the shelter seven days a week.